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How to Pack & Ship Shrimp

1

Thought this may be of help to others.

First off a disclaimer of sorts. There are many different ways to pack and ship shrimp or other inverts/fish. Everyone has their own way. This is just my way and it works for me. I ship fish the same way for the most part.

I use USPS for shipping shrimp. It is the least costly. I use Priority mail shipping boxes. The boxes are free at the post office, you can ask for as many as you want. Alternatively you can use any sort of box you want, some people even use small styrofoam boxes, which work well. I can never find enough of them.

The cost for shipping is based on weight and how far the package is going. Typically costs anywhere from $5 to $8. The delivery confirmation is $0.75. If you have a scale at home to weigh the package, you can print a shipping label off the usps or paypal website, then delivery confirmation is free.

In some cases depending on how much you are shipping it may be more worthwhile to use a medium or large flat rate shipping boxes. The cost is going up on these sometime next year so not including prices on them. Look on the usps.com website for pricing.

No matter how well you package the shrimp, you need to look at the weather both where you are and where you are shipping to will be. Many times I have waited to ship or receive shrimp/fish when temperatures are a bit extreme. Know the temperatures that are safe for shipping. For red cherry shrimp I have shipped from the 50F to 80F range.

Shrimp can be very sensitive to temperature changes. To help protect them from any extreme temperatures, the box needs to be insulated.

I salvage sheets of styrofoam that comes in packaging from a friend's shop. You can buy sheets/panels of styrofoam at many hardware stores. It can be found free at some stores since they will just tossed it out.

Total water I use is maybe 200ml. Do not need a lot of water. Also the water will add to weight and cost to ship!

I use 5.5" x 8" kordon breather bags. The advantage to them is they allow oxygen into the bag, and co2 out. No air space is left in the bag when you use kordon breather bags. This means the bags will take up less space in the box, so you can use smaller boxes.

You can use regular poly bags but I find more shrimp end up dying due to being sloshed around the bag. To get an idea of what I mean by that, take a water bottle that is half filled and shake it around, and imagine shrimp in it being tossed around in transit, not good!

Pour the cup of shrimp into the bag. Then add a bit of water to the cup, to rinse the shrimp that got stuck to sides of the cup into the bag , somehow always seems to happen. Then add in some java moss or any plant matter for the shrimp to cling onto. Tie up the bag.

I will put anywhere from 20-50 shrimp into a single bag. Just add a bit more water. You can always add a second bag of shrimp to the package as well.

No matter what type of bag you use, you want to double bag the shrimp. So take the first bag (with the shrimp) and put it into a second bag. This is to protect the shrimp in case the bag leaks.

Place shrimp bag onto a sheet of newspaper and fold it up loosely. You don't want to pack it too tightly as you might end up poking a hole in the bag! The newspaper has a few a few purposes. The first is to act as insulation. Also absorb water should the bag leak. Place into the box. Fill in the empty voids in the box to keep the bag from moving around with anything you like, packaging noodles, extra bits of styrofoam, crumpled up notes from class, etc...

If you feel the need to better the odds of a successful delivery, tape a lucky penny to the top piece of styrofoam.

They will ask you a few questions when you get there. I just answer no to everything. If you say 'yes' to liquids, you'll need to talk a bit maybe, but usually not a problem. Just let them know it's double bagged.

I keep a copy of this with me when I go to the post office, sometimes you have to deal with folks there that don't know that you can mail live fish/animals. This is useful to have so you can point out the regulation code if they give you any trouble about shipping fish.

Link is for the postal regulation about shipping fish and some other live animals.

What they require when you ship fish.
* Fish must be held in a securely sealed primary receptacle.
* Primary receptacle must be cushioned with sufficient absorbent material to take up all liquid in case of leakage.
* Primary receptacle and absorbent cushioning material must be sealed within waterproof outer (shipping) packaging.

Nice thread...but what to do when they arrive?...I've read a few different articles on un-packing and acclimating shrimp, but what do YOU recommend, korith?

A few ways to acclimate the shrimp or well pretty much any fish/inverts. Normally I first let the bag float in the tank, so the bag water matches the temperature of the water in the tank.

Then I empty the bag into a fish specimen container (one of those plastic containers that hang on the tank) or just any container.

Then either use a drip like the one mentioned in this thread http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aqua...ad.php?t=39559 by Wild Turkey or just add a bit of tank water to the container slowly over maybe half an hour. This is so the inverts/fish can acclimate slowly to the pH of your water.

Then I empty the container the fish/inverts are in into a net, the water should be poured into a waste container. Pop the net into the tank and release the fish/inverts. The reason I pour the water the fish/inverts into a waste container is I don't want to introduce water from someone's tank into my own. This is especially true for stuff bought at a fish store, there is a chance you might introduce problems from their tanks into your own.

A few ways to acclimate the shrimp or well pretty much any fish/inverts. Normally I first let the bag float in the tank, so the bag water matches the temperature of the water in the tank.

Then I empty the bag into a fish specimen container (one of those plastic containers that hang on the tank) or just any container.

Then either use a drip like the one mentioned in this thread http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aqua...ad.php?t=39559 by Wild Turkey or just add a bit of tank water to the container slowly over maybe half an hour. This is so the inverts/fish can acclimate slowly to the pH of your water.

Then I empty the container the fish/inverts are in into a net, the water should be poured into a waste container. Pop the net into the tank and release the fish/inverts. The reason I pour the water the fish/inverts into a waste container is I don't want to introduce water from someone's tank into my own. This is especially true for stuff bought at a fish store, there is a chance you might introduce problems from their tanks into your own.

Great, easy enough, thanks for the tips!

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